Monday, 26 November 2007
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Vicious Virus & Valiant Victors
Embarrassed, distraught, sick, and depressed since the 10th and let me share why.
I was suppose to start my period on the 10th. Well, the 10th came and went. On the 15th I took a pregnancy test and it came back negative. But..... I was spotting and things weren't normal so I started stressing out. My boyfriend got a cold and I could feel it trying to catch me too. Friday, the 16th we got a cat, which we thought ran away on Saturday the 17th, plus I was getting a really bad pimple on my limp. On Sunday things hit a peak. The cat showed up but managed to jump five feet straight in the air onto the front of my budgies bird cage and pull it down on herself. The 'pimple' turned into some sort of clear blister on my upper lip, my period was still spotting on me and the damn cold had made it's new home in my nose.
It was time to take action.
I fixed the bird cage while my boyfriend vacuumed up seed. Then I went to WebMD* and found out I have Herpes simplex virus type 1, or what is commonly called cold sores*. This is where I became distraught, crying and rambling on about being tainted and diseased. I just have to say I have a wonderfully patient and understanding boyfriend. He calmed me down, made me read more about it and sent me off to the pharmacy.
I spent $35.81 on Abreva, another pregnancy test, cold medicine, and Airborne, then I locked myself in my bathroom for twenty minutes.
I am not pregnant and I have learned that three of the four major triggers for cold sores are menstruation, stress, and being sick with a cold or flu. I don't know how or even when I picked up the virus. I also didn't realize how truly common it is. Of course that doesn't make me feel any better.
I called in sick the entire week of Thanksgiving too embarrassed to go in with a huge red blister on my upper lip. My boyfriend said it didn't look nearly as bad as any of the pics online, but to me it felt like my entire face was riddled with disease and I wouldn't go anywhere.
I got crabs once when I was 14. Never have sex in a public pool, the chlorine doesn't kill everything in the water! This is the closest I've come to a sexually transmitted disease. What's so scary is 50-80% of Americans have HSV-1*. I've had sex with hundreds of men and women, hundreds I say. I've used condoms, but I've kissed most of these people during the encounters. Scary? Yes, yes it is.
I started my period Sunday night. The cat, named waffle, is staying away from my birds. I only have a little red spot on my lip now and have returned to work. Sniffles are gone. I've made an appointment with my doc, just in case.
I know I not only made things worse by freaking out, but might have even caused the damn outbreak because I was stressing in the first place. I'm usually a very calm person, but this has cut close to the bone of my greatest fear. All that sex, all those people. What if I caught something and don't know it. What if I passed it on or am passing something on to my boyfriend now. It's terrifying. It's also why I'm going to get tested when I go to see my doc. It never seems real until you have a blister on your face and memories of busted condoms.
I would hate to leave you without a fairy tale ending for our heroine. Alas, her knight proclaimed his love despite her hideous cold sore affliction. For showing courage in the face of contagious blisters and making her laugh through it all and holding her while she vainly cried our heroine has decided to get a six month account for World of Warcraft for x-mas for her knight so he may fight goblins and demons to his valiant heart's content.
I could spend the rest of my life with this wonderful man. Thank you P-bear.
WebMD http://www.webmd.com/default.htm
Cold Sores http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cold-sore/DS00358/DSECTION=1
Statistics http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/cold_sores/stats.htm
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